The Day the Earth Caught Fire

Released 1962

Distributor Universal

Global warming in 1961! Is it a newspaper picture, or a disaster picture, or a political picture, or…well, it’s all of these and more. Former journalists Val Guest and Wolf Mankowitz bring a bracingly realistic slant to their persuasive end-of-the-world scenario through the use of real Fleet Street newspapermen, including non-actor Arthur Christiansen, editor of The Daily Express. Tossed off as an exploitation picture in the US, it’s one of the great unsung science fiction pictures, and a must-see.

About Josh Olson

Josh Olson was the only student in his second grade class to see The House That Dripped Blood. Many years later, he wrote and directed the no-budget horror film, Infested, a brutal assault on The Big Chill, with zombies. He went on to write the screenplay for A History of Violence and was nominated for the WGA, BAFTA and Academy Awards for Best Screenplay. He kept losing to Larry McMurtry, but that’s okay. He co-wrote the teleplay for the Masters of Science Fiction episode, The Discarded, with Harlan Ellison, and is currently writing a sophisticated thriller, Tabloid, for Mick Jagger.